Serious question, will WEC take the prominent place Formula 1 has had in the past few decades in the world of motorsports? The cars look better, the racing is fantastic and with Porsche, Audi and Toyota being joined by Nissan in the LMP1 class next year, they’ve got as many manufacturers as Formula 1 has next year. And that’s besides the GTE classes too.

I have a feeling the popularity of WEC is steadily increasing while more and more autosport fans seem to be tired of F1 and it’s ridiculous gimmicks. I know I was getting sick of the terrible decisions by F1 to “increase the show” and I realised I like WEC better as it is now.

Manufacturers are allowed a lot of technical freedom when it comes to drivetrains and the best thing about it is that the rules are so well thought out that the cars are still really close performance-wise. Isn’t this exactly the direction F1 should’ve taken?

I drove to Spa last weekend for the 6 hours of Spa and I must say, it was amazing. For 28 euros I was able to attend on both friday and saturday, there was a pitwalk and the opportunity to get autographs. I was able to watch from the Bronze zones, but I could just take a seat into whatever grandstand I liked as well. That’s a LOT of bang for your buck when just the Bronze zone costs you 130 euros if you want to attend a Formula 1 weekend.

The only thing that Formula One has over WEC for me is the fact that I have strong connections with most of the drivers in F1 and also the fact that it is the fastest motorsport category out there. But I completely agree. F1 has been shooting itself in the foot for some time now, and I could write a multitude of things which I absolutely love about the World Endurance Championship.

Wish we had a legit source to watch WEC here in the States. I do think it has the opportunity to take over. They might not be as fast, but they’re already more technologically advanced, better racing, etc.

The fastest lap driven by the LMP1 cars last weekend was just 10 seconds slower than Vettel’s fastest lap during the race last year. Not bad for a car weighing almlst 200 kilos more than a modern Formula 1 car. Plus F1 laptimes will probably be even slower this year.

And yes, Montezemolo did say Ferrari might join WEC with a LMP1 car. Would be great!

^That. I like the WEC, but if I watch it I either don’t see the entire thing or have it on in the background while I do work or read or something. By it’s nature I don’t think enough people would be bothered for it to surpass F1. I think just about any non-endurance motorsport stands a better chance of surpassing F1.

I’m not so sure. 6 hours is not that long when there’s plenty of good racing througout the entire field. Of course 24 hours is too long to really follow, but 6 hours not so much. I can easily watch a 6 hour race, just enjoyinf myself when I see cars passing each other without DRS.

To be honest, I don’t agree @matt90 because I can’t name a motorsport as engaging and fast as WEC currently is, besides F1 of course.

Let’s take into account Group C was becoming very popular in the early 90s and very attractive to car companies. The FIA and to an extent the FOM did their utter best to lure all the big names in Group C (Mercedes through Sauber, Peugeot, later with GT1 BMW and Toyota) to F1.

If the WEC is to establish itself as an alternative to F1, it needs to become a bit more accessible to casual viewers, as I’m a WEC fan (even a fan of various teams and drivers) and still couldn’t tell you half of who’s who and who to look out for. And they need to make sure they don’t become the ‘portal to F1′ like it were the 90s again.

Honestly, Ferrari belongs at Le Mans, and therefor the WEC. Hopefully they will see half-heartedly supporting AF Corse or building close-but-no-cigar prototypes and not run them themselves, and just enter LMP1 already.

6 hours is not that long when there’s plenty of good racing througout the entire field.

That’s an awful lot of time to put aside for a single event though (in that respect I suppose the infrequent events counts for it). There aren’t many other sports I can think of which go on for that long. For that reason I think it makes sense that it wouldn’t catch on with as wide an audience as F1.